name some authors who...

[rae121452]

you think have been unfairly neglected in recent times. i love glenway westcott, warwick deeping and edith wharton. the one i think has most egregiously been ignored is mazo de la roche. why there hasn't been a masterpiece theater type series of the 'jalna' novels is inconceivable.

 

[SimonDoom]

you think have been unfairly neglected in recent times. i love glenway westcott, warwick deeping and edith wharton. the one i think has most egregiously been ignored is mazo de la roche. why there hasn't been a masterpiece theater type series of the 'jalna' novels is inconceivable.

I'm not familiar with those authors, other than Edith Wharton, who I think is one of the best American novelists. I'm not sure if she's neglected. I thought the 1990s film adaptation of Age of Innocence was one of Daniel Day Lewis's and Martin Scorcese's weaker efforts. Wharton is an example of an author whose novels lose a lot in the translation to film.

 

[oggbashan]

Jalna

I thought so:

Canadian version available as a DVD

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Whiteoaks_of_Jalna

British TV play 1955

https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/a8a2d88b79114171a03e55f6d5a5c3db

Some of my suggestions for neglected authors:

Raphael Sabatini: Captain Blood; Bellarion and many others

Ernest Bramah: Kai Lung stories

Robert Van Gulik: Judge Dee

Richard Powell: Pioneer Go Home; Don Quixote USA

Thorne Smith: The Stray Lamb; Rain in the Doorway; Night Life of the Gods...

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I see that they are remaking the Magnum series...

John D MacDonald - Travis McGee series. Enough there for a couple of seasons.

 

[TANSTAAFL58]

I see that they are remaking the Magnum series...

John D MacDonald - Travis McGee series. Enough there for a couple of seasons.

Absolutely!

The books are quirky; a friend who I introduced to McGee said they were about 15° off plumb. Sounds right.

So, who do you cast as McGee? If you read the descriptions of McGee, it makes you wish Will Farrel was a better actor. Maybe Vince Vaughn.

I'd add the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Stout was an unrivaled master of the English Language. Some of the stories are perhaps a bit dated (my favourite one has a passage that could best be described as somewhat racist), but the way he writes is really great.

Og, I remember the Whiteoaks of Jalna from CBC TV in the early 70s(?). My mother loved it.

And, we should just say "no" to Magnum without a moustache. Would you take Poirot's moustache? Sherlock Holmes's Watson? McGee's houseboat? Sam Spade's fedora and trench coat? Jason Bourne's memory loss? Bond's vodka martini? NO!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Absolutely!

The books are quirky; a friend who I introduced to McGee said they were about 15° off plumb. Sounds right.

So, who do you cast as McGee? If you read the descriptions of McGee, it makes you wish Will Farrel was a better actor. Maybe Vince Vaughn.

I'd add the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Stout was an unrivaled master of the English Language. Some of the stories are perhaps a bit dated (my favourite one has a passage that could best be described as somewhat racist), but the way he writes is really great.

Og, I remember the Whiteoaks of Jalna from CBC TV in the early 70s(?). My mother loved it.

And, we should just say "no" to Magnum without a moustache. Would you take Poirot's moustache? Sherlock Holmes's Watson? McGee's houseboat? Sam Spade's fedora and trench coat? Jason Bourne's memory loss? Bond's vodka martini? NO!

And the new Magnum is without a moustache and Higgins is a woman???!!!! WTF?

 

[SusanJillParker]

you think have been unfairly neglected in recent times. i love glenway westcott, warwick deeping and edith wharton. the one i think has most egregiously been ignored is mazo de la roche. why there hasn't been a masterpiece theater type series of the 'jalna' novels is inconceivable.

"Um, give me a minute. Lemme think. Oh, yeah. The biggest author, one of the most prolific authors, and the author who has won the most contest prize monies, that I can think of who has been neglected, victimized, nullified, unfairly criticized is, and otherwise unduly bashed is, of course me...SusanJillParker (lol)."

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Absolutely!

The books are quirky; a friend who I introduced to McGee said they were about 15° off plumb. Sounds right.

So, who do you cast as McGee? If you read the descriptions of McGee, it makes you wish Will Farrel was a better actor. Maybe Vince Vaughn.

I'd add the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Stout was an unrivaled master of the English Language. Some of the stories are perhaps a bit dated (my favourite one has a passage that could best be described as somewhat racist), but the way he writes is really great.

Og, I remember the Whiteoaks of Jalna from CBC TV in the early 70s(?). My mother loved it.

And, we should just say "no" to Magnum without a moustache. Would you take Poirot's moustache? Sherlock Holmes's Watson? McGee's houseboat? Sam Spade's fedora and trench coat? Jason Bourne's memory loss? Bond's vodka martini? NO!

Well, let's see...

Sam Elliot played him when they made one of books into a movie - The Empty Copper Sea.

Put I was thinking more...

Aaron Eckhart from Battle Los Angeles
Or
Damian Lewis from Homeland
Or even
Hugh Laurie of House fame.

 

[HBergeron]

A lot of the classics are in danger of fading these days, some because they're 'difficult' by today's standards. When was the last time you heard twenty-somethings discussing even early 20th century novelists like Sinclair Lewis? If a work manages to be made into a film, and possibly remade for the modern audience, it has at least a chance of surviving in the popular mind.

Take 'Moby Dick' - ludicrously remade in 2010 with Barry Bostwick as Ahab, but the reasonably good movie was in 'In The Heart of the Sea' about the incident that supposedly inspired the novel. This is how authors' works die these days. Who remembers Richard Henry Dana Jr. anymore? I would think that the rebellious spirit of 'Billy Budd' at least could be made to cater to a younger audience, but alas, they'd have to throw in a Kraken.

 

[ChloeTzang]

.... , but alas, they'd have to throw in a Kraken.

Speaking of Kraken's, some of the old SF authors from the golden age - you just don't see their books anymore
- A E Van Vogh
- Frederick Pohl
- John Wyndham
- Harry Harrison
And a whole lot more. You get the odd one like Robert Howard but there's lots that've just faded

 

[oggbashan]

Speaking of Kraken's, some of the old SF authors from the golden age - you just don't see their books anymore
- A E Van Vogh
- Frederick Pohl
- John Wyndham
- Harry Harrison
And a whole lot more. You get the odd one like Robert Howard but there's lots that've just faded

And Poul Anderson - Flandry series. One of my favourites is Three Hearts and Three Lions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hearts_and_Three_Lions

 

[R. Richard]

Definitely R. Richard. Check out his Second Chance scifi series.

 

[HBergeron]

Speaking of Kraken's, some of the old SF authors from the golden age - you just don't see their books anymore
- A E Van Vogh
- Frederick Pohl
- John Wyndham
- Harry Harrison
And a whole lot more. You get the odd one like Robert Howard but there's lots that've just faded

I pretty much checked out of the genre many years ago, but who's heard anything about two of my favorites Samuel R. Delany (Nova should be a movie) or Ursula K. Le Guin (R.I.P. earlier this year) lately? Maybe people do talk about them, and I missed it.

 

[johnnieblue44]

I pretty much checked out of the genre many years ago, but who's heard anything about two of my favorites Samuel R. Delany (Nova should be a movie) or Ursula K. Le Guin (R.I.P. earlier this year) lately? Maybe people do talk about them, and I missed it.

Dr. Seuss never got his due from recent generations as a timeless literary genius.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Speaking of Kraken's, some of the old SF authors from the golden age - you just don't see their books anymore
- A E Van Vogh
- Frederick Pohl
- John Wyndham
- Harry Harrison
And a whole lot more. You get the odd one like Robert Howard but there's lots that've just faded

I was saddened last time I went to the library. It had been a long time, but in the sci-fi section, where there used to be a complete shelf of R.A.Heinlein books, there were two. And all the authors you mentioned were MIA.

Of course you can get most of them online in eBooks, but the library getting rid of them? Scandalous!

 

[oggbashan]

I was saddened last time I went to the library. It had been a long time, but in the sci-fi section, where there used to be a complete shelf of R.A.Heinlein books, there were two. And all the authors you mentioned were MIA.

Of course you can not get most of them online in eBooks, but the library getting rid of them? Scandalous!

That's why I cannot reduce my personal library much more. So many of the books I own are not available in public libraries now. Some examples:

Russell Thorndike Doctor Syn - seven in the series, only one recently in print.

Sapper - Bulldog Drummond? Yes. His others? No.

Arthur Upfield - Napoleon Bonaparte series? Only a couple are available.

and so on and on...

 

[rjordan]

Take 'Moby Dick' - ludicrously remade in 2010 with Barry Bostwick as Ahab, but the reasonably good movie was in 'In The Heart of the Sea' about the incident that supposedly inspired the novel. This is how authors' works die these days. Who remembers Richard Henry Dana Jr. anymore? I would think that the rebellious spirit of 'Billy Budd' at least could be made to cater to a younger audience, but alas, they'd have to throw in a Kraken.

I have a leather-bound copy of Two Years Before the Mast which is dog-earred from nearly a dozen readings over at least 50 years. As an avid sailor and native Californian, it's a fascinating book for it's history and geography. As a kid in the 40's, we used to visit the beach and play below the cliffs near Dana Point where he describes throwing the hides from the top to the beach below.

But the book is a fairly specialized work of non-fiction, albeit very literary. I wouldn't expect a lot of modern readers would have much interest in the life of a 19th Century common sailor, and I don't fault them for that. It was also Dana's only book, though he was a prolific writer in his field as an attorney.

I wonder how well Melville would be remembered if his only book consisted of the cetological chapters in Moby Dick. As fascinating as I found them, most people I know who have actually read Moby Dick (few) didn't do much more than skim those areas so they could get on with the story.

Even well-read people have large gaps in their appreciation of the classics. Not so much because they are "difficult", but because the sheer volume of reading necessary these days is like sucking on a fire hose.

rj

 

[HBergeron]

I have a leather-bound copy of Two Years Before the Mast which is dog-earred from nearly a dozen readings over at least 50 years. As an avid sailor and native Californian, it's a fascinating book for it's history and geography. As a kid in the 40's, we used to visit the beach and play below the cliffs near Dana Point where he describes throwing the hides from the top to the beach below.

But the book is a fairly specialized work of non-fiction, albeit very literary. I wouldn't expect a lot of modern readers would have much interest in the life of a 19th Century common sailor, and I don't fault them for that. It was also Dana's only book, though he was a prolific writer in his field as an attorney.

I wonder how well Melville would be remembered if his only book consisted of the cetological chapters in Moby Dick. As fascinating as I found them, most people I know who have actually read Moby Dick (few) didn't do much more than skim those areas so they could get on with the story.

Even well-read people have large gaps in their appreciation of the classics. Not so much because they are "difficult", but because the sheer volume of reading necessary these days is like sucking on a fire hose.

rj

Personally, I think Moby Dick should remain required reading, possibly forever. The theme of obsessive pride in the face of 'God' and the natural order remains one of the most stirring, thoughtful examples of mankind's quest for the answer to its true place in the universe. IMHO.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I was saddened last time I went to the library. It had been a long time, but in the sci-fi section, where there used to be a complete shelf of R.A.Heinlein books, there were two. And all the authors you mentioned were MIA.

Of course you can get most of them online in eBooks, but the library getting rid of them? Scandalous!

That's so true. I took a look at my local library's SF and there's only a few books by the authors I would consider the greats. There's lots of spare shelf space but nope. All the SF section is about 70% fantasy and the sf is almost all stuff I scan the intro for and yawn. Rather sad.

I've seen really good SF books that were donated but instead of putting them on the shelves they just sell them for a buck or two.

 

[rjordan]

Personally, I think Moby Dick should remain required reading, possibly forever. The theme of obsessive pride in the face of 'God' and the natural order remains one of the most stirring, thoughtful examples of mankind's quest for the answer to its true place in the universe. IMHO.

I couldn't agree more. I managed to avoid it in high school. My loss. I finally read it in my late 20's crewing on a large sailboat up the California coast for delivery to a boat show in Sausalito. I had my nose in that book every free moment. I finished it on the cruise back home to Long Beach. I've read it twice since, each time a richer experience than the last.

rj

 

[FEELINGLUCKYPUNK]

I abandon authors when they embrace political correctness, as soon as the black, gays, and gals arrive I leave.